The present invention is directed toward a collapsible chair of the type commonly referred to as a director's chair and, more particularly, to such a chair having a relatively flat profile when in the folded condition.
Collapsible or foldable chairs are well known in the art. The folding feature is desirable for both storing and transporting the chairs. A problem with most existing collapsible chairs is that even when in their folded condition they still tend to be cumbersome and, therefore, are not well suited for packaging, shipping or transportation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,046, for example, discloses a series of laterally arranged folding chairs that can be separated into individual units. When an individual chair is placed in the folded condition, the upper portions of the back frame members cross one another. Accordingly, the individual base frame members do not lie in one flat plane when folded.
Another problem with existing foldable chairs is that they are both difficult and expensive to manufacture. This is attributed to the fact that they are made of a large number of interconnected pieces. Such chairs are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,118,065 and 4,437,700. In each of these patents, a chair is disclosed that is comprised of a number of pieces interconnected at various points.
Accordingly, there is a need for a collapsible director's chair that can fold to a substantially flat profile for convenient storage and/or transportation. Furthermore, there is a need for such a chair that is both easy and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.